Kennel Owners Face Animal Cruelty Charges Ill Treatment At Puppy Mill Leads To 26 Counts Of Cruelty
Pend Oreille County prosecutors filed 26 animal-cruelty charges Friday against Jeanette and Sven Bergman, whose Mountain Top Kennel caused a public uproar when sheriff’s officers raided it Jan. 4-5.
The charges relate to specific dogs whose suffering was among the worst reported by veterinarians. Fraud charges may be filed later on behalf of buyers who say they paid thousands of dollars for dogs that arrived sick or without promised pedigrees.
“These are all the (cruelty) charges that the evidence will support at this time, but the investigation is continuing,” Prosecutor Tom Metzger said. “I won’t foreclose anything at this juncture.”
Jeanette Bergman, 45, and Sven Bergman, 48, are charged equally. The couple moved to Washington after she was convicted of animal-law violations in Kootenai County and was forced in 1992 to shut down the dog kennel she operated there.
The charges included 20 counts of second-degree animal cruelty and six counts of illegally cutting ears.
Public officials and animal welfare organizations received thousands of telephone calls this month from people who were outraged when authorities reported finding 230 dogs in such bad conditions that 25 of them had to be euthanized. Fifteen other dogs were already dead when officers searched the kennel eight miles north of Newport.
The District Court charges against the Bergmans are all misdemeanors that carry maximum penalties of 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine. Sentences usually are far less than the maximum, but state law says animal-cruelty sentences must be served one after the other - not all at once, as in many other criminal cases. No arraignment date has been scheduled, but defense attorney Dennis Scott said the Bergmans will plead innocent.
Meanwhile, a hearing is scheduled for Wednesday on the Bergmans’ motion for return of the dogs and other property, including four horses, two cows and $20,000 cash.
Metzger said he will resist the motion. He said he may ask District Court Judge Chuck Baechler to allow officials to adopt out the dogs unless the Bergmans post a bond to cover the cost of caring for the dogs for a month.
A Seattle veterinarian has estimated the monthly cost of caring for the impounded dogs to be $104,489.
Among other abuses, the Bergmans are accused of cutting the ears off 12 mastiff puppies “almost all the way to the skull.” The untreated wounds “came into contact with feces, urine and saliva,” resulting in infections, Deputy Prosecutor Tony Koures said in a court document.
Sheriff’s officers found 17 dismembered dog ears on the Bergman property.
Among six dogs that had to be euthanized, one had an infection of its sexual organs and another “was afflicted with severe body wounds and ulcers,” Koures stated.
He said several dogs also suffered from a condition that caused the outer part of their eyelids to curl under and rub against their eyes. The condition, called entropion, causes irritation and ulcers, and can lead to blindness.
A female bull mastiff had a severe, untreated neck wound from a collar that wasn’t expanded as the dog grew larger. Two other mastiffs appeared to be suffering from broken jaws that healed improperly, Koures stated.
He said most of the dogs lacked shelter, and two of them appeared to have lost toes because of frostbite. In many cases, snow accumulation kept dogs from getting inside the uninsulated plastic shipping containers that provided their shelter. For some dogs, the only shelter was some propped-up boards, Koures alleged.
All of the dogs were forced to live atop straw that was matted with their own feces and urine, the deputy prosecutor charged.
Many dogs appeared emaciated or depressed from lack of food and dehydration, Koures added. He said all of the water set out for the dogs was frozen, and some were licking snow that was saturated with urine and excrement.
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